For the ranks of Korean intellectuals and essayists, the zeitgeist of the 1930s and 40s was both fantastic and pessimistic in equal measure. Scholar Janet Poole intrepidly situates their writings, and their lives, in her new book. Reviewed here by Sino-NK.

Suzy Kim, author of Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, has guest edited a special edition of Cross-Currents, an open access journal at University of California, Berkeley, engaging in a deep examination of ill-remembered and heavily contested moments of modern Korean history.

Pyongyang’s narrative response to the ascension of Kim Jong-un has drawn deep and heavy upon the past, indicating a certain conservatism and “ideological retrenchment,” argues Adam Cathcart in a SOAS-AKS Working Paper in Korean Studies. Director of Research, Robert Winstanley-Chesters, reviews the paper.

Following its minimal attendance at recent COP meetings of the UNFCCC, North Korea’s concerns and aspirations surrounding climate change are unclear. Benjamin Habib’s new article for Pacific Affairs seeks to determine causality and assess future intention.

The first Yongusil of 2015 encounters a reconceptualization of the bounds, nature, and possibility of “domain consensus” and its deployment in recent analysis of North Korea in the Review of Korean Studies.

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What is Sino-NK?

Sino-NK is a scholarly collective of young Sinologists and Koreanists dedicated to documenting and analyzing the borderland dynamics, transnational ties, and history of Northeast Asia. Work published on Sino-NK is regularly cited in journalistic outlets and our analysts have been featured in a range of academic publications. Sino-NK endeavors to better understand North Korea’s relations with the world and to chart a path forward for digital (and) academic analysis. Read more